Western Capercaillie

Tetrao urogallus (Linnaeus, 1758)

		male female
2012-04-19 Burabai National Park, Akmola oblast 2013-07-15 Eastern Kazakhstan, Ridder. Ivanovsky ridge.	© Venera Nugmanova © Aleksandr Klimenko

Distribution

Inhabits the pine forests of Kokchetav Upland and North-East Kazakhstan. Please see the detailed distribution in the section Subspecies.

Biology

Rare resident. Inhabits the pine and spruce groves, the larch forests with bushes and deciduous trees both on plains and in mountains at altitudes 1450-1900 m. In April - May males display in small groups (3-10 birds). Nest is built by female mostly on southern slopes, under the bush in shallow hole and is lined with thin twigs and grass. Clutch of 6-8 eggs is laid from early-mid May to early June. Only female incubates clutch and care juveniles which hatch from the end of May to early July. In September - October birds join to flocks (separately males and females) and begin to disperse in nearby areas with plenty food, at distance more than 50 km.

The subspecies of birds living in Kalbinskiy Altai is unknown. Capercaillie living in Kokchetav pine forest was introduced in 1912, and then in 1964 and 1986 from the Kirovskaya Province and Novosibirskaya Province.

Subspecies

Tetrao urogallus taczanowskii (Stejneger, 1885) Description. Male colour is darker than uralensis. Grey tone on head, upper-neck and mantle, and white colour on under parts are less expressed than uralensis. Female colour is slightly darker than uralensis. Distribution. Breeding in Southwest Altai.

Tetrao urogallus uralensis (Menzbier, 1887) Description. Male colour is lighter than taczanowskii. Upper parts with maximal expression of grey; brown is lighter than taczanowskii. White colour on under parts is well expressed. Female colour is slightly lighter than taczanowskii. Male wing length 384-418 (400), female 291-314 (303) mm. Distribution. It's possible the occurrence in pine forests on right bank of Irtysh river. Dispersing birds observed in Chaldayskiy pine forest at Galkino village.

References

Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005. Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. В.К.Рябицев. "Птицы Урала, Приуралья и Западной Сибири". Екатеринбург. Изд-во Уральского университета, 2000.